- Apple Maps now supports full route covering throughout the UK and Ireland
- Instead of the former London-centric feature, you can schedule a bike journey anywhere
- There are a lot of useful features here, including marking steep hills, bad road surfaces and more
Apple Maps has just gotten better for cyclists thanks to the introduction of full bicycle navigation support throughout the UK and Ireland.
While the app may have supported cycling directions in the UK for some time-in over four years, in fact-to now, this navigation feature has not been impressive in terms of the covered areas (it was basically London-centered).
It has changed a lot, and as 9to5Mac reports, eager cyclists with Apple Maps can now plan full trips across the UK (albeit not multi -stage routes, it should be noted).
These instructions include important information to know for cyclists, such as how much steep slopes can be present, and actually trays that require your bike to go up – or other parts of a route where you may need to walk on the sidewalk.
You can choose to avoid such steep hills, and also busy roads that Apple Maps can avoid for your route (as well as tell you where dedicated bike paths are available).
Roads that do not have a proper surface are also marked up, in case you do not feel like what may be an uneven (or bull-destroying) trip. Any route comes with an estimated time of arrival along with distance and height info.
A welcome feature if a long -awaited
While this is clearly a welcome step for cyclists in the UK and Ireland, there are people out there who have raised the eyebrows, which is why it took Apple so long to incorporate full directions for the UK. As mentioned, it has been a number of years when coverage has been pretty thin on the ground.
Furthermore, there are also people who have criticized the routing of Apple Maps in terms of sending bike riders down inappropriately busy roads, although this update may also help with this front.
Fingers crossed that those who have complained about the navigation app missing in this regard find an improvement with this great overhaul for cyclists.
